APPLICATIONS CLOSED

The South Asian Journalists Association is providing a new funding opportunity to help working journalists to help cover training, professional development, and other miscellaneous costs associated with reporting and editing. Applicants with financial hardships will be given special consideration.

Up to $5,000 will be distributed among up to 10 recipients ($500 max for each applicant.)

The types of costs that could be partially or fully covered include:

– Conference registration

– Training course fees

– Training materials like books or software

– Equipment like cameras or recorders

– Costs of fact-checking

Deadline: Dec. 15.

APPLY HERE. 

Selection/Eligibility

Professional development fund grants are open to journalists of South Asian descent based in the United States and Canada. Applicants must be working for news organizations located in the United States and Canada or working as full-time North America correspondents for South Asian media outlets. Freelance journalists are also eligible for the grants.

Immediate relatives of SAJA Board members and judges are INELIGIBLE to apply.

Evaluation Procedure

A committee of judges appointed by the SAJA Board will review applications. The applications will be evaluated based on genuine financial need and the relevance and importance of the activity the grant recipient will pursue to fulfill their professional or reporting needs. Applicants may be interviewed by phone, Skype or in-person by a member of the scholarship committee. Winners will be notified by the end of December 2022.

Award process

Recipients are expected to become SAJA members if they aren’t already and give back to SAJA by volunteering at one SAJA event during the year. They should commit to promoting SAJA activities, events, membership drives and donation appeals on social media platforms in order to help SAJA achieve its mission and expand the network. All recipients of the grants must also agree to provide an update on their journalistic achievements one year after the award is given. We will post excerpts from these statements on the SAJA website and social media platforms to share with the public the impact of the program. 

SAJA is pleased to announce the winners of this year's awards, which represent an excellent batch of journalism. The winners were scored and selected by panels of independent judges.

THE DANIEL PEARL AWARD
Established in honor of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was killed while reporting in Pakistan, this award recognizes outstanding investigative reporting that exhibits courage under difficult circumstances and exposes important public issues. See, for example, a previous Daniel Pearl award winning story about Kashmir during the recent military takeover by Modi’s government for the GroundTruth Project.

Winner

India Under Surveillance
Niha Masih, Joanna Slater
The Washington Post

Read the series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Finalists

Online censorship is growing in Modi’s India
Paroma Soni
Columbia Journalism Review

The Hindu Extremists at War With Interfaith Love
Angad Singh (Producer), Ahmer Khan (Field producer), Masihuzumma Ansari (Associate producer), Siddarth Bokolia (Camera operator), Puneet Sharma (Camera operator), Jose Flores (Editor), Oliver Gruber (Production assistant), Neda Tolui-Semnani (writer), Karishma Vyas (Senior Producer)
Vice News Tonight

BUSINESS REPORTING

Winner

Facebook Under Fire
Cat Zakrzewski, Gerrit De Vynck, Niha Masih and Shibani Mahtani
The Washington Post

Finalists

Trapped in Silicon Valley’s Hidden Caste System
Sonia Paul
WIRED

How Big Tech Is Importing India’s Caste Legacy to Silicon Valley
Saritha Rai
Bloomberg News

ARTS & CULTURE

Winners (TIE)

The Slow Death Of Artistic Freedom In India
Tatsam Mukherjee
Slate

Why minorities are abandoning India’s trailblazing queer forums
Ankur Paliwal
Rest of World

Finalist

Chef Asma Khan on breaking barriers with familiar flavors
Imtiaz Tyab
CBS News

HEALTH REPORTING

Winner

How Science in India Became a 'Political Weapon' Under Modi; 'Everyone Here Is Alone' ; One Son's 48-Hour Fight to Save His Parents
Karan Deep Singh
The New York Times

Read the series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Finalists

These twins are 5 years old. They lost both parents to covid-19.
Joanna Slater
The Washington Post

India's Deadly Delta Wave
Angad Singh (Producer), Ahmer Khan (Field Producer), Surabhi Tandon (Correspondent), Karishma Vyas (Correspondent and Senior Producer), Jahangir Zaidi (Associate Producer), Omar Khan (Associate Producer), Akash Bisht (Associate Producer), Gabrielle Caplan (Associate Producer), Supreet Bargi (Camera Person), Puneet Sharma (Camera Person), Siddarth Bokolia (Camera Person), Adam Deniston (Editor) Alejandro Soto (Editor), Kyri Evangelou (Editor), Adriane Quinlan (Writer), Brian Josephs (Writer), Craig Thomson (Executive Producer)
Vice News Tonight

COMMENTARY & OPINION

Winner

Policies Mandated by Multilateral Institutions Are Contributing to India’s COVID Catastrophe
Puja Changoiwala
Scientific American

Finalists

Will Pakistan Be the Next Country to Fall to a Taliban-Style Takeover?
Hasan Ali
The Nation

What America Missed About the FedEx Massacre
Angad Singh (Producer and Host), Adriane Quinlan (writer),  Ana Simoes (Graphic Designer), Andrew Marulanda (Editor), Scott DeAngioletti (Camera person), Dan Cain (Camera person), Karishma Vyas (senior producer), Emily Drew (Senior Broadcast producer)
VICE News Tonight

STORY ON ANY SUBJECT

Winner

Return to Afghanistan Under Taliban Rule
Imtiaz Tyab
CBS News Face The Nation

Finalists

Housing Crisis in California
Mustafa Mirza
VICE News Tonight

Part 1, Part 2

Dalit Scientists Face Barriers in India’s Top Science Institutes
Ankur Paliwal
Undark Magazine

STUDENT JOURNALISM

Winner

What Went Wrong at Cook County Jail
Kiran Misra
South Side Weekly and Shadowproof (Collaboration)

Finalists

The dirty business of wetlands restoration
Tanay Gokhale
Local News Matters

How Suburban Influence Defeated a Resolution to Condemn the Indian Government
Kiran Misra
Chicago Reader

We're excited to announce the recipients of the 2022 SAJA scholarships! We're proud every year to provide people with financial support to pay for a journalism education. Congratulations to all of these individuals. We are excited for their futures!

2022 Recipients

Saugat Bolakhe

I am an aspiring life science and environment journalist from Nepal and a science journalism student at the City University of New York.

Mehar Gujral

Mehar Gujral is a graduate student at New York University and documentary filmmaker making home in this world.

Prachi Vashisht

Prachi Vashisht is currently pursuing her master's in Digital Media Studies, studying India's misinformation and disinformation crises. She previously worked with NPR's KEDT as a reporting intern.

Pooja Sarkar

Pooja Sarkar has been a financial writer for over a decade, writing on private equity and Indian Economy. Her aim is to simplify complex financial jargons for her readers. She is studying at Columbia University.

Nazmul Ahasan

Nazmul Ahasan (he/him) is a Bangladeshi journalist in the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and a graduate student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Juhi Doshi

Juhi Doshi is an incoming junior at Chapman University studying Broadcast Journalism and Documentary and minoring in Political Science, and is currently interning for CBS Evening News with Norah O’ Donnell in Los Angeles.

Nikita Vashisth

Nikita is a current student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, she’s worked with various organizations as a data journalist and later as an editor.

SAJA is excited to once again recognize and award some of the great journalism produced last year! Many of our awards focus on reporting about South Asia or the South Asian diaspora. Other awards recognize the tremendous work produced by journalists of South Asian backgrounds. Together, these awards help further our mission of supporting newsroom diversity and promoting better coverage of issues related to South Asia worldwide.

See below for details on this year's SAJA awards! Questions? Email president@saja.org.

Make your submissions here.

Deadline (new!): September 22, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.

Eligibility Criteria

The submitted piece(s) of work must have:

• Appeared in a U.S. or Canadian news outlet between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021. Work published in a media outlet based in South Asia is NOT eligible for entry.
• Most awards require the submissions to be focused on subjects about one or more than one South Asian countries or the South Asian worldwide diaspora. Read the descriptions carefully. Two awards recognize broader work produced by journalists and student journalists of South Asian backgrounds.
• Branded content is not eligible for an award -- submissions must be examples of independent journalism.

Other criteria:

• Awards are open to all US and Canadian media: national newspapers/TV channels, local/regional newspapers/TV channels, news and features websites, and other online platforms that DO NOT include personal or professional blogs.
• Freelancers and journalists employed by newsrooms are both eligible to apply by submitting a story published in a North American publication.
• Individuals may submit entries or organizations may enter the contest on behalf of their journalists.
• Organizations and individuals can make multiple entries. BUT the same entry/story cannot be submitted in different categories.
• Former SAJA board members are eligible to apply but they must not have served on the board since the past two years (2020).
• The countries that we consider as part of "South Asia" are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan.
• No award will be presented in any category that does not receive a minimum of 3 quality submissions.

Fee

SAJA levies a non-refundable application fee to help cover some of the costs of the awards process. The fee is $75 per entry for companies who are making submissions on behalf of employees, $25 per entry for individual journalists submitting on behalf of themselves and $15 per entry for students.

Judging

SAJA will select a pool of volunteer judges for each award, who will rate each submission on a number of factors including: 

• News Value: insight, informative qualities and durability.
• Originality and/or Exclusivity: enterprise and discovery.
• Reportorial Quality: thoroughness and balance.
• Writing and Production Quality (where applicable): clarity in dealing with description, concepts, findings and complex issues.

Awards Categories

SAJA this year is recognizing journalism in a number of different categories: business, arts and culture, health, opinion and commentary and photography. Here is a full list:

1. The Daniel Pearl Award for outstanding reporting about South Asia

Established in honor of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was killed while reporting in Pakistan, this award recognizes outstanding investigative reporting that exhibits courage under difficult circumstances and exposes important public issues. See, for example, a previous Daniel Pearl award winning story about Kashmir during the recent military takeover by Modi’s government for the GroundTruth Project.

All media formats are allowed. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic. Please be considerate of the volunteer judges' time when submitting large entries.

2. Outstanding business story about South Asia, or the worldwide South Asian diaspora

This award recognizes outstanding news, feature or explanatory reporting in business, technology and economics.

The story should not be an opinion piece. All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

3. Outstanding arts, culture, and lifestyle reporting about South Asia, or the worldwide South Asian diaspora

This award recognizes outstanding reporting about arts, culture or lifestyle.

The story should not be an opinion piece. All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

4. Outstanding health reporting about South Asia, or the worldwide South Asian diaspora

This award recognizes outstanding reporting about health, science, public health and the coronavirus pandemic.

The story should not be an opinion piece. All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

5. Outstanding commentary, editorial, opinion piece or personal essay about South Asia, or the worldwide South Asians diaspora

This award recognizes outstanding creative writing, use of language, quality of articulation and coherence that covers news, sports, business, entertainment or any other aspect relating to South Asia or South Asians.

All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. Books are ineligible for this awards. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

6. Outstanding photography about South Asia, or the worldwide South Asian diaspora

This award recognizes outstanding feature or breaking news photography in black and white or color in newspapers, magazines or digital publications.

This category can be a single photo, or a photo series.

CATEGORIES FOR SOUTH ASIAN JOURNALISTS WORKING IN NORTH AMERICA

7. Outstanding story on any subject

This award recognizes outstanding reporting on any subject.

The story should not be an opinion piece. All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

CATEGORY FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDENTS IN U.S.A OR CANADA

8. Outstanding story on any subject by a South Asian student in the US or Canada

This award recognizes outstanding reporting on any subject by a South Asian student studying in North America. Reporting can be in any field or medium, and can include reported opinion pieces or essays.

This category is for students of South Asian origin studying in North America. All media formats are allowed, though video or audio submissions must not be longer than 30 minutes. The reporting can be a single piece or a series on a specific topic.

On March 8, SAJA Board Member Masuma Ahuja spoke with member and freelancer Lakshmi Gandhi about her new book Girlhood: Teens Around The World In Their Own Voices, what it was like working girls from around the world, and the ins and outs of writing a book as a journalist.  

Click here to watch the program

Watch the full event here.

Watch here: SAJA Journalists' Briefing

#SAJA2020

Watch this talk HERE

AAJA & SAJA Issue Guidance on Coverage of

VP Nominee Sen. Kamala Harris and Her Racial Identity

August 19, 2020

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) urge contextualized and comprehensive news coverage around the racial identity of Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris.

The proper way of characterizing someone’s racial or ethnic background, particularly when that background is of national interest, is a complex matter of identity and culture. The question has emerged again with the selection of Harris.

AAJA and SAJA urge newsrooms to be mindful in their language of Harris’ multifaceted racial identity and the ways she has described her own upbringing and background.

• Her mother was from India and her father was from Jamaica. Harris was born in California.
  
  
• In her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” Harris wrote that she identified as Black while growing up: “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters. She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.” 
  
  
• Harris has also publicly embraced her Indian descent, identified as an Indian American, and described herself as being of South Asian descent. In her Senate bio, she also describes herself as “South Asian-American”, a less common term.
  
  
• “Asian American” is an accurate and encompassing term to describe Harris, as it applies to those from the continent of Asia, including the subcontinent of India. 
  
  
• Harris is the first woman of color nominated for a presidential ticket by a major party. That includes being the first Black woman, first Asian American woman, first South Asian American woman and first Indian American woman to be nominated for a presidential ticket by a major party. She is the fourth woman in U.S. history to be a nominee for the presidential ticket of a major party. 

We advise news organizations to consider the point of the story as well as the target audience when writing headlines and articles about the groundbreaking nature of Harris’ candidacy. 

Over the coming weeks, AAJA and SAJA will work to provide more guidance and conversation on this subject. In the meantime, here is some background reading to help inform the reporting and writing about her:

• The Other Kamala: Kamala Harris and the History of South Asian America, South Asian American Digital Archive

• Kamala Harris’s 2009 interview with Aziz Haniffa and her 2018 speech at Pratham New York Gala

-- South Asian Journalists Association and Asian American Journalists Association  

Contacts:

Mihir Zaveri, President

South Asian Journalists Association

president@saja.org 

Michelle Ye Hee Lee, President

Asian American Journalists Association

michellel@aaja.org

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RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP 

Watch this talk HERE.